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We paused right outside the room. Noah gave me a wary look, like he wasn’t sure what kind of conversation I had in mind.
I shook my head. “Not about … anything.”
Little Jason stared up at me.
Noah frowned, and it seemed like he realized what I meant. “Uh. Yeah. Jason, here, take my phone. Why don’t you find the show we were watching last night together before all of this?”
“Got it.” Jason took the phone and tapped away on it like a pro, disappearing into the room.
It was just me and Noah now, and my heart skipped as I noted the crow’s feet around his eyes. He was bulkier than the eighteen-year-old boy I remembered from that summer after graduation. I didn’t know much about him, but I did know he’d served in the military and now had his own private security company.
“What’s up?” he asked.
My mind blitzed between my dreams last night and this version of him. I forced myself to focus. “Uh, I think Jason and Trent might be hiding something. When I asked how Trent broke his arm, they kept looking at each other and … it just felt like they weren’t telling me everything.”
Noah looked confused. “Really? Hmm. Dang.” He ran his hand through his hair; like Kayla’s, it was almost too blond to be natural. Man, I loved that hair. “I guess it could be because I was sleeping on the job when it happened.”
That took me by surprise, but then I realized why. “You were at the tree house on the property?”
He nodded, and a slow grin crossed his face. “It brought back a lot of memories. I’m not going to lie.”
The memories were coming back to me too: the games I’d played with him, Greg, all of his brothers, and Mercy. My heart picked up speed. “Wow.”
He wiped a hand over his face. “And it’s all my fault. They told me to watch these guys, and I fell asleep. The next thing I know, both of them were yelling.”
I wanted to pull Jason back out here and grill him, but we didn’t have a chance.
“Hey, Ella Bella.” Clint strode purposefully down the hall toward me, a bag of fast food clutched in his hand.
Noah visibly stiffened, puffing his chest out a bit.
I turned and forced a smile at Clint. “Hey. I thought you were coming Tuesday for your appointment?”
Clint looked between me and Noah. “Is this why you said you wouldn’t go out with me?”
He was starting to annoy me. Was he still insisting on this? I moved toward him and gestured toward the front of the building. “Are you here to get your stitches out? Let’s get you checked in.” That was another problem with a small-town hospital: we didn’t have as many nurses on shift.
Clint didn’t move. “I’m not here to get my stitches out. I thought I’d bring you something to eat this morning. I heard about your break-in last night.”
“Break-in?” Noah asked, his eyes widening.
I stiffened and glared at Clint. “How would you hear about my break-in?”
Clint looked caught. “I guess I wasn’t supposed to hear about it. I was on a run last night, and I saw Damon and McCrae at your house. I might have overheard you all talking.”
Noah took my hand. “Who broke into your house?”
I was frozen. With Noah’s palm pressed against mine, I could hardly think.
“Hey, what is going on?” Mercy asked, coming down the hallway.
“Yeah, what is happening?” Damon echoed. Trent walked next to him, a splint on his arm.
I forced myself to focus on Clint. “You live in town. Even if you were on a run, why would you stop there?”
“Yeah.” Noah fixed Clint with a glare. “Were you spying on her?”
Clint balked and took a step back. “No,” he said with a skittish laugh. “I was on a run, and I stopped and saw everyone there and realized her house had been broken into.”
